Sunglasses
by Larunya
Summary: When Coby is promoted ahead of him in the navy, Helmeppo's reaction is strong to say the least. Is it envy...or something more? CobyMeppo Ch 4 is up: Coby's news is far from welcome.
1. Divided

Author Note: Well...after certain events in the manga recently involving Coby and Helmeppo, I decided a story about them was long overdue. I doubt that they have many fans (yet...) but I personally think, since their recent appearance, they make a very interesting pair to write about. Oh well, I'll let you decide! Feedback (good or bad, I like them both equally) greatly appreciated.

**Slightly More Important Note: This story will make more sense if you've read from Chapter 432 in the manga. In response to questions about when this is set: a year or two into Coby and Helmeppo's navy training. Events span out from there up to the events of Enie's Lobby. **

* * *

**Sunglasses**

It had been three days since Helmeppo had spoken to him. Three long, stubborn days punctuated by prolonged silence, the exchanging of glares to stun even the fiercest medusa and one-way conversations with the back of Helmeppo's head. Coby was at a complete loss as of what to do. Helmeppo _was _the resentful type. God knows he had enough to complain about (namely a psychotic father, the loss of all family glory and _that _chin. A cleft of that depth had not been seen since Lucky Roux had dropped his shorts at a passing navy ship).

But ever since their promotion from Zatsuyou Helmeppo's complaining had gradually become less and less until it seemed that the young marine had reached a happy medium. He still talked about the "good old days" from time to time and occasionally threatened injury upon Luffy in his sleep but otherwise Helmeppo had become…well, almost reasonable. Or so Coby had thought.

At this moment in time though, Helmeppo was glaring at him again from the bed on his side of their shared quarters. He was trying to pretend he wasn't, for every time that Coby looked up from his packing, Helmeppo would hurriedly hide his face behind a magazine. But soon, the vehement scowl would reappear. After about ten minutes of this, Coby finally threw down one of his shirts and shouted, "Helmeppo-san, will you _please _be happy for me!"

An article on the growth of West Blue marimo had suddenly replaced Helmeppo's face.

"Helmeppo-san, I thought you of all people would understand how important this is! If I'm to become an admiral then I have to be promoted!"

Silence. Coby strode over and tore the damned magazine out of the way.

"I was reading that!" finally snapped Helmeppo.

"Helmeppo-san, look at me please…_please look at me!_"

Helmeppo eventually forced his eyes into direct contact with Coby's…and very nearly faltered. Coby was bent over the bed in front of him with his glasses askew on his head and his fluffy pink hair flopping out of his bandanna. But there was a surprisingly forceful glimmer behind those sea-blue eyes of his, a determined glimmer that seemed to perfectly compliment the longer nose and leaner, more manly face that Coby had grown into.

Helmeppo suddenly felt very angry. Using such a handsome expression to intimidate him! That wasn't fair! So he cast his eyes downwards instead but found them resting on Coby's clumsily half-unbuttoned shirt. Double unfair! Displaying such muscles to catch him off guard!

"You're a cheat, you are Coby!" he said, jumping off the bed to retrieve the magazine. Coby had thrown it half way across the room.

"What do you mean, I'm a cheat Helmeppo-san? Are you saying that I've somehow interfered with the navy promotion system?"

"Don't be stupid Coby," said Helmeppo as he re-seated himself with his reading material, "Even if you knew how to cheat the system you wouldn't. You couldn't break a rule even if it was brittle and you trod on it by accident."

"Then what _do_ you mean, Helmeppo-san!"

"You know what I mean," he retorted, "You've been doing extra training at night."

For some odd reason, Coby was sure that he detected a slightly injured tone of voice from behind the magazine screen.

"Well…I have…"

"So you're a cheater."

"Helmeppo-san, that's not true! Every night for the last week or so you've nearly fallen asleep the moment you've got through the door. In fact, you actually fell asleep on your desk fully-clothed the other night. So…I thought it was better to let you sleep. I didn't want you to injure yourself, Helmeppo-san."

For a good two or three seconds, Helmeppo was stunned silent. He had never considered such an idea. The revelation suddenly made him want to jump up, fling both arms around Coby and yell, "You care Coby, you actually care!" before giving him the biggest hug of his life. But then he rapidly waved the thought away with a slight shudder. The things that having an unloving parent did to one…

"Well call yourself a friend!" was the best defence Helmeppo could come up with.

"That's the poi…oh never mind, Helmeppo-san."

He went back to the box that he had left in the middle of the floor and flung the last of his clothes and books in there.

"That's it then," he said, picking up the box, "I'm leaving now. If you can't accept that I'm now a Petty Officer and you're not, then fine, have it that way. You won't have to share with me any more."

"That's fine with me," replied Helmeppo nonchalantly.

"Ok with me too," said Coby.

But the moment that the door slammed shut behind Coby, the two of them both knew that it wasn't really ok.


	2. Out of Sight

**Sunglasses Chapter 2: Out of Sight**

He couldn't tell precisely what time it was but when Helmeppo woke up that morning, he found himself lying in that dim, deathly silent hour just before dawn. This was unusual…Normally Helmeppo's day would start later at sunrise with his and Coby's first physical training session out in the courtyard. However today something, perhaps an outside noise, must have disturbed his sleep. Lying back and staring at the shadowy ceiling, Helmeppo listened intently. Nothing. Not the tiniest sound. No wind outside, not even a drop of rain. Not even the slightest rustle of blanket or the gentle whisper of Coby breathing in his sleep…

_Him! _thought Helmeppo and sat bolt upright in bed as the reason for his early awakening suddenly struck him. The very _lack _of sound had disturbed him. Of course Coby's normal matutinal habits rarely went unheard (that boy was _far _too energetic most mornings) but only now as Helmeppo stared at the empty, lifeless bed did he realise how differently a day could start.

Hmmph. Damn that little twerp. Well, he was awake now. May as well get up and do something useful rather than brood over the lack of the Pink-Haired Half Pint in the room. (_He's not even a half-pint_, thought Helmeppo, _More like a girl's pink alco-pop_) Finally averting his eyes from the immaculate hospital corners left by his former roommate, Helmeppo heaved himself out of bed and went to retrieve his navy-issue towel. Better to wash now whilst it was still early and the shower room was empty.

On a normal day, the training session would begin with a communal shower and whoever awoke first was automatically responsible for rousing the other. Although Coby was frequently first up, the rare occasions when he wasn't left Helmeppo with a great excuse to sit on Coby's face and taunt him until he was eventually thrown off, Coby struggling for breath and berating him. But it was always worth it though, Helmeppo had thought, if nothing but to see that beautifully peaceful, smiling, smug sleeping expression of Coby's suddenly wiped off his face…

Curse that thought. No point remembering that, not now. He slung the towel absent-mindedly over one arm and headed out down the corridor, feeling oddly glum. It felt slightly strange not to have Coby pacing in front of him, that characteristic smile super-glued to his face, his shorter stature somehow managing to stay just that bit ahead of him. Although Helmeppo had never gained any acknowledgement of this, he felt sure that his steps contained a tinge of agitation, that Coby was forcing this speed unnaturally upon himself. Mind you, most people would want a communal marine shower over with as soon as possible due to the ever so sensitive amount of anatomical scrutiny that went on, today being no exception:

"Oi 'Meppo! Where's Pink Pubes this morning!" yelled another early riser. Damn. There went the chance of a solitary scrub.

"Been promoted," replied Helmeppo to the offending marine and once again, as he did every morning, he tried not to think about this namesake of Coby's. Of course it was _logical _that if the hair on Coby's head was pink… Yet as much as the curiosity prodded and pulled him, Helmeppo could never look. It wasn't as if it were difficult either: the showers stood in orderly rows like a cattle shed. Without fail, Coby always showered directly next to him. But no matter how many comments were made about Coby's unusual features, Helmeppo just couldn't peek. It was as if there mental blinkers attached to either side of his head, forcing every furtive side-wards glance back to the wall in front. And now there wouldn't even be any furtive glances. He had missed his chance. Wait, what chance? For what? To become a raging pervert?!

But his thoughts were violently interrupted by the fact that he lathered his hair up so furiously that he got shampoo in his face and went around red-eyed for the rest of the morning. Or so he said.

However, if anybody else had noticed it, they had probably forgotten about it fairly soon after, for all the entire midshipman brigade could gab about that morning was the promotion of its seemingly nerdy member. How was it that mild-mannered, courteous, book-loving Coby had made his way up to Petty Officer already? It was not unreasonable of them to expect Helmeppo to offer them an explanation. But he was having none of it.

"Well…he studies a lot, ok?"

"Just that?"

"C'mon Blondie you share a room with him…"

"_Used to _share a room with him," admitted Helmeppo grudgingly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So how the hell did he get a promotion?"

Helmeppo hesitated. Embarrassingly, he realised that didn't actually know. The news of Coby's departure had cast all reason out of his mind and made him wish a very uncomfortable, preferably itchy, curse upon Coby's very name. Eventually he retorted:

"Well…he toadies up to Garp, there you go!" and took himself off into the corner to resume training alone. A sudden, awkward weight had descended upon him the moment that the response had left his mouth. Could it possibly be…guilt? Saying that Coby was Garp's bootlicker was almost slander. Coby was strong. He'd _seen _those muscles. He also knew for a fact that Coby still harboured a (rather healthy) pathological fear of the Vice Admiral. Yet not truly knowing what had become of his companion…no. Better not to think about it. Coby had left him in the lurch and that was that. Helmeppo had his own career prospects to think about. He had to start earning all that lovely money that he'd once had. He had to win back the penthouse, the pool, the thoroughbred horses, the respect, the fear, the glory of the Morgan name! Now the best way to start was to get these press-ups done!

Yet as the exercise drew on, the stone beneath him began to feel rougher and grittier, the early morning light seemed dimmer and already his stamina was starting to fail him. Soon every morning started to feel like this. Miserable Mornings became Dubious Days which quickly turned into Worst Weeks. He couldn't understand it at first. He was doing no more work than before. He was doing the same exercises, staring at the same moronic classmates, even fighting with the same damn wooden swords. Yet it had all become so much more difficult. So much harder without…without a roommate. There had been talk of moving another midshipman into his quarters but nothing had become of it. There was still no one to train with, study with, eat with, sleep with…meaning no motivation of course…

But the link between that motivation and Coby only came to him some time later. He had been trying to find out where his friend had been moved to. Not because he'd forgiven him for his abandonment, but because of this heavy, gut-wrenching feeling he'd been getting - guilt was it? – and somehow he felt that seeing Coby again, just once mind, would cure it. So far he had been unsuccessful. The registry staff helpfully told him, with deadpan expressions, that they were sorry, but they were not permitted to divulge any recruit's personal details. (_Yes and_ _I bet you're very sorry during your half-hourly tea breaks, _thought Helmeppo sourly after they had kept him waiting for 40 minutes). Then he tried casually asking around the mess room for any info. No gain there either. Still none the wiser, he considered the final and terrifying option: asking Vice Admiral Garp. Whether Garp would tell him anything or just flatten him, he wasn't sure.

Yet the man whose maniacal eyes had once watched him so intently was barely to be found nowadays. So with his conscience still uneasy, Helmeppo was forced to try and forget about his comrade. He tried. He really did. But how can one forget when every day the empty space, in both room and routine, is so glaringly obvious? How could he go on when the voice that had driven him on from the start had fallen silent? He wouldn't admit it but…he was starting to miss Coby.

But finally, nearly a month later, he saw him. Out on manoeuvres around the base, he caught sight of a looming figure walking across the training fields, the distinctive slow, proud gait of the Vice Admiral. Striding behind him, eyes glued to the grass in front of him, was none other than Coby. Helmeppo wanted to wave at him, jump up and down and yell, "Coby it's meeeee! I'm here!" But he didn't. Aside from the fact that it was positively idiotic, he couldn't because he happened to be in the middle of a march. Instead he kept his eyes fixed on Coby, waiting for a sign of acknowledgement. And he saw it. A momentary flicker of eye contact. That was all before Coby strode out of sight.

It took a few seconds to sink in before Helmeppo realised that he was furious. Coby distinctly hadn't wanted to look at him. He had been ignored. The great son of Captain Morgan had been _ignored! _Well if that was the snooty attitude of the Petty Officer then fine, there was only one thing for it. He too would have to become an officer. A better one than Coby and with more money. Then he'd be able to see Coby and wipe that snobby look off his face!

With that resolve in mind, Helmeppo once again looked ahead of him and began to march harder.

* * *

Well...I hope that's a reasonable follow-up to Chapter 1! Let me know what you think! 


	3. Breaking and Entering

**Sunglasses Chapter 3: Breaking and Entering**

Darkness hadn't so much fallen as much as tripped clumsily and come toppling down over the navy base that night. Clouds sat stubbornly over the midnight sky, dropping heavy rain appearing as continuous dotted lines under the floodlights. Had this been an otherwise clear night, a short figure dressed solely in black would have been seen slinking around the complex, limbs splayed out and hugging its buildings like a spider. Face obscured by a black balaclava, anyone watching could have been forgiven for believing that a hardened terrorist was out on the prowl. But they couldn't have been further from the truth. Underneath it was a damp and terrified Coby. His heart pounded like the feet of a flamenco dancer and he couldn't stop shivering. Paranoia trailed him, the feeling of being watched a continuous and empty threat.

He asked himself: if he was so afraid then why was he out here? Why was he creeping around at the mercy of the rain? He was on a mission. An unofficial, unauthorised and very personal mission.

He tentatively peered around the corner. Finally-there it was! Across the courtyard stood his target: the midshipmen's quarters. Yet as he beheld the rather uninspiring-looking concrete building, terror hit him harder still. If he entered that building, he would be committing a crime. He would be wilfully ignoring what the Vice Admiral had told him about this building:

"It's out of bounds. It's forbidden."

"Ok sir, I understand," Coby had replied, "But…may I please ask why?"

"No you can't," Garp had growled, "You got a problem with that?"

"Errr…"

"I SAID, HAVE YOU GOT A FUCKING PROBLEM WITH THAT?"

"No sir, of course not sir! Please forgive my impertinence!"

"Good. Now piss off back to work then."

As he had just stepped out of the door, Coby swore he heard him mutter, "You and that yellow-haired moron aren't a single unit you know." Coby had been understandably puzzled.

He shuddered involuntarily at the memory. He could get into Trouble. The kind of Trouble that, in Coby's mind, involved many, many clenched fists, court marshals and quite possibly prison, with the key smashed into tiny pieces and flung into the bottom of the ocean. Or even worse still…to be rendered "Missing in Action". Rumour had it the Vice Admiral had no qualms about making this fate possible…

Friendship meant friendship though. He'd risk it, just this once.

He counted the windows across the block - four, six, eight, nine, that was definitely the room - and was just about to make a final dash for it when suddenly he stopped. A small, black object had come sloping into the courtyard, clearly sniffing for something. His heart lurched into his stomach. It was a navy patrol dog. Not just any patrol dog either. Judging from its leisurely wobble, it was a hulking, obese and very irritable rottweiler that the recruits had affectionately christened "Nutcracker". He had no idea why and had no intention of finding out. Coby was going to have to take another risk. He was going to have to try a move that he knew only in theory. He breathed in deeply and…

"SORU!"

The result was startling. He found himself propelled through the air, like a man out of a comedy cannon, and unable to stop, went careering into the midshipman's quarters, then into Helmeppo's room where the blonde had been in the unfortunate act of relieving himself. The ensuing crash brought him sprinting back from the bathroom, stripy pyjama bottoms held up by hand, where he tripped, fell and created a spectacularly ugly pile-up with the intruder.

"Owwww!" cried Helmeppo, "Damn you burglar, but I've got you now! What the hell did you think you could steal from me, eh?" His hands found their way on to two scrawny-feeling limbs. Got him by the arms!

"Answer me! What did you break in for?"

"Owww," came a soft moan, "I'm so sorry Helmeppo-san…"

The familiar voice was as alarming as a gun shot. Helmeppo sprang up as quickly as if it had kicked him up the bottom, and punched on the light switch. Surely enough, a dishevelled and very soggy Coby lay in a heap on the floor, his luminous hair visible under the fringes of a woollen balaclava, possibly knitted by his mother. He was lying on his back with his limbs stuck out at all ungraceful angles. Looking down at him like this, Helmeppo felt his cheeks burn. What he thought had been the arms of a burglar might possibly have been Coby's thighs.

"C-Coby!" he spluttered, "What the..?!"

Coby picked himself up awkwardly.

"I came to see you Helmeppo-san, I…"

"You came to see me looking like that? You look like one of the mountain militia. What did you want me for? A light after-dinner game of guerrilla warfare?"

Coby whipped off the balaclava and rose to his feet. His face was flushed and he was fighting to regain his breath.

"I…"

"And besides," continued Helmeppo, "Who said I wanted you to come and see me? It's been two months since _you_ left and _you've_ been ignoring me. So much for regiment responsibility."

Suddenly Coby thrust himself forward and sent Helmeppo very nearly crashing into the wall.

"I came to see you to apologise Helmeppo-san! That fight we had before we left-I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have left things like that - though you were being stubborn you must admit - but we're friends, I want us to always be friends, so let's just forget about that fight. And I swear, I _haven't _been ignoring you. Forgive me?"

Helmeppo felt such an oddly warm, fuzzy feeling that the barriers rapidly melted.

"Yeah. I'm sorry too, Coby."

They looked at each other. Coby's arms were wrapped around Helmeppo's back; Helmeppo's were resting on Coby's shoulders. Their faces were merely inches apart and some of Coby's rain-drenched hair clung to the shirt of his friend's pyjamas. They both yelped in unison. This had happened _far _too often. You could almost hear the sound of Velcro as they swiftly tore themselves apart.

"Gaahhh! Coby you're soaking wet!" said Helmeppo, almost as if to justify himself.

"Well it _is _raining Helmeppo-san," retorted Coby.

"You're dripping all over the carpet! Towels are in the bathroom."

Coby took up the offer and dried himself off in the bathroom. When he returned, Helmeppo was curled up in bed swathed up to the neck in his duvet. Coby plonked himself at the end of the bed.

"So," said Helmeppo, "If you haven't been ignoring me then why haven't you spoken to me earlier? Why visit now and not before?"

"Helmeppo-san," sighed Coby, "It's not as easy as you might think. My training has got tougher and longer. I actually go on exercises on the training ships now. And they let me handle weapons that cause more damage than just a split fingernail. Then…" He paused uncertainly. "There's been the ban imposed on me by Vice Admiral Garp."

"Ban?"

Coby reiterated what Garp had told him. But he omitted the Vice Admiral's final snide comment. He didn't want Helmeppo to know what Garp thought of him but most of all, Coby wanted to consider for himself what exactly had caused to Garp to say it in the first place.

Helmeppo was indignant at the news.

"He told you that you weren't allowed in here?"

"He just said it was out of bounds, nothing else."

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"Because he's the Vice Admiral, Helmeppo-san. He can do nearly anything he likes without question."

"Bet he just enjoys winding us up. I told you his hobby is tormenting low-ranking scrubs like us."

"If you say so, Helmeppo-san."

"He's so weird! And that assistant of his!"

Coby was confused. "Which assistant of his?" he asked.

"The guy who looks like a reject 1940's private detective."

Coby instantly remembered him. The man who slunk around the base like a ferret, smoked a pipe between lips as puckered up as a dog's backside and could lay waste to entire regiments with a mere flick of his katana.

"You know," continued Helmeppo, "The guy who wears the flasher mac and always looks like he's about to…"

"That's _Commodore _Bogart, Helmeppo-san."

"Well whatever his name is. What exactly does he _do _anyway?"

"He works closely with the Vice Admiral."

"Doing what though?"

Coby had thought hard about this and found he couldn't answer. He had seen Commodore Kyo lurking around the base on several occasions but it had never been clear what exactly he was doing. Or what his full job was, full stop. So the two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence during which, Helmeppo pushed himself further down under the duvet until only his forehead was visible. Then he said in slightly muffled tones:

"You know Coby, it's been weird not having you here."

"Has it?"

"Yeah." His voice quickly returned to normal. "I keep looking for a pink-haired pygmy and failing. Mind you, you're not always easy to spot. I tend to only find you when I trip over you, like an uneven paving stone."

Coby frowned but the beginnings of a smile were also visible underneath it.

"Oh yeah?" he said. Coby was polite but not polite enough to take it lying down. "Well better that than suffer constant neck-ache looking up at you all the time, Mr Bean-pole. You make sticks of celery look obese."

"At least I'm first to know when it's raining," came the retort.

"Yeah, and the only one it snows on."

This time Helmeppo responded by throwing a pillow out from under the covers at him and Coby actually smiled. It felt like he had almost come home, as if they were back in their comfortable if somewhat argumentative old days of being Zatsuyou.

But when the time came for Coby to leave Helmeppo (who had began to doze off under the duvet) and go back to his new quarters he was reminded that things had not and could not go back. He knew that he really didn't want to scrub floors or exist in the mundane routine of a midshipman but he felt a strange foreboding about a position that wouldn't allow him to see his best friend. Nevertheless he had promised, ignoring his intention of only one visit, that he would sneak out again to see Helmeppo. Being Coby, he was true to his word and though he feared the consequences, he visited Helmeppo again about a week later. But he came with bad news.


	4. The Cold Stare of Resentment

**Sunglasses Chapter 4: The Cold Stare of Resentment**

Helmeppo had waited for Coby's next visit with an almost painful anticipation. Not because seeing the little twerp brought any sparkling glimmers of glee into his heart, of course not. He was just something to break up the monotony of the week, another ear into which he could talk, the saucer upon which the mighty teacup rests, so to speak. He didn't merit a coded mark on the calendar nor any impatient watch-tapping, of course not… Nevertheless when the planned day came, Helmeppo couldn't deny that his eyes were constantly glued to the clock, so much so that the drill sergeant kindly offered to mount them up there for him. He rushed through the exercises that day with his heart raging away the entire afternoon. His stomach didn't get off lightly either. His evening meal went down virtually whole, the resulting heartburn suppressed by a handful of chalk tablets. Eventually when the sun shuffled away behind the horizon and the sharp yell for lights out resounded down the corridor, Helmeppo was finally allowed to admit to himself that he was indeed very much awaiting Coby's arrival. Sat in the dark under the covers with his knees pulled up to his chin, a stray smile had stretched itself across his face. How lucky Coby was to see him again!

Coby clearly didn't know it though, the ungrateful little swine. He kept Helmeppo waiting for several long hours during which he rediscovered the underrated joy of harvesting the fluff off his socks and squashed a pair of bluebottles noisily engaged in an indecent act on the windowsill. ("Just because I'm not having any fun, doesn't mean they can!")

It had just reached about 2 am and Helmeppo was seriously considering sleep when finally a beam of light sprang forth from an open door and Coby stepped quietly inside.

"Helmeppo-san?"

Helmeppo sprang out of bed and was at the light switch faster than Bellamy the Hyena on some serious recreational drugs.

"Where the hell have you been?" hissed the blonde, straining to control the volume of his voice.

"Sorry," muttered Coby, pulling off his balaclava as slowly as if it were made of lead. His hair lay flat and unwashed, his eyes ringed with the tell-tale signs of sleep deprivation. He walked over to Helmeppo's bed and dropped himself on to it. His usual strength of posture was gone and he sat with his shoulders hunched forward as if two giant invisible hands were thrust upon them. Feeling his companion's gaze upon him, he made an effort to sit up straight.

"Sorry," he repeated, "I've just had a lot to do these past few days, paperwork and all. I couldn't leave tonight until it was all finished; everything had to be wound up by tonight."

Helmeppo sat himself down next to Coby with his entire body turned to his direction. Coby's lacklustre appearance had stunned all the irritation in him and made him feel uneasy. Normally his friend was a chirpy, argumentative little sparrow with a pleasant demeanour and an extreme passion for apologising but in front of him now was a despondent sack of flour with a slight whiff of BO. He tried to question Coby further about the paperwork but Coby pressed a resolute smile on to his face and quickly changed the subject.

"Paperwork's pretty boring – though you'll have to do it all the same when you get to my rank – so why don't you tell me how the midshipman's training is going?"

At any other time Helmeppo would have Olympic high-jumped at any invitation Coby gave him to talk about himself, his number one all-time favourite subject. But as he began to describe the immense tedium of learning how to tie rope knots, he could see that Coby's mind had wandered aimlessly away from him. Instead he sat and stared, past the bony hands that were clasped in his lap, directly into the floor. He was nodding off.

"Coby?" Coby yanked his head up almost violently.

"Hmm? Yes, Helmeppo-san?"

"What was I talking about just then?"

"You were…well…" faltered Coby.

"I was telling you about the day that I saw Vice Admiral Garp tap-dancing on his ship's figurehead in nothing but a pair of snap-tacular underpants," said Helmeppo, perfectly dead-pan. Dead-pan was not something that Helmeppo could express often due to him being in possession of a slightly dorky, easily excitable personality but when he got it just right, he felt that it was an achievement, a triumph to be celebrated by all those lucky to have beheld it.

"Oh, I see," said Coby. His eyes were drifting back to the floor again.

"Coby, you're not even listening to me!" snapped Helmeppo, "In fact you can't even keep your damn eyes open."

"Sorry, Helmeppo-san. I am a bit tired but I can stay awake," said Coby after a cavernous yawn.

"Never mind, you're obviously in no mood to talk. Ahh, I know…" – a slight glint of mischief had emerged in the midshipman's eyes and could clearly be seen doing a merry little dance in there – "…this'll wake you up! How about an arm-wrestling match? We haven't done that in ages."

"Yeah," agreed Coby half-heartedly and allowed Helmeppo to haul him up by the wrist and slap his arm down on to the bedside cabinet that had separated their two beds when Coby had still been a midshipman. The arm-wrestling lasted out for only one match though. Helmeppo felt like he was battling with a damp scarf. An entire week's laundry could have given more of an impassioned fight than the one he got from Coby, especially his socks which were well-renowned in the midshipman's brigade for rendering comrades near unconscious after a particularly long march. So he then tried telling Coby all the least politically incorrect pun-related jokes that he knew. Coby bearly cracked a smile once.

"Come on Coby!" whined the blonde, "Since when did you become such a bore? I know you've had a lot of work but it's over now, leave it behind, play a little! And it can't have been that been that bad – was it?"

Coby ignored the prompt to talk and insisted that it wasn't.

"Well then what the hell is it?" said Helmeppo angrily, suddenly inflamed, "I feel like I've been conversing with a corpse since you got here, you look like something dragged out of the bottom of an Alabastan tomb!"

At that moment, Helmeppo swore that he saw Coby visibly twitch. Perhaps it was even a full-blown flinch. But, like the swollen river that had burst its dams, now he'd started a rant there was no way he was going to stop.

"I've waited all week to see you and this is what I get – a complete dishrag? Some friend you are to me!"

A huge, trench-like frown sunk into the Petty Officer's forehead and somehow he found the energy to jump to his feet. He was visibly shaking with some kind of suppressed rage, real unbridled rage, not the hyperactive bouts of leaping to his feet and shaking alternate fists that tended to constitute Coby irritation. Either way, Helmeppo knew that trouble was on the way. Whether angry or annoyed with his contemporaries, Coby was one of those types who maintain constant, unwavering eye contact and right now his eyes rested firmly on Helmeppo.

"Don't you dare give me that rubbish Helmeppo-san!" he cried, aiming a finger at the midshipman's face, "Not only did I keep my promise to come and see you but I came after working my socks off until they walked around the room by themselves! Helmeppo-san, it is nearly three in the morning, what do you want me to do? Balance books on my head and sing the Navy's Official Anthem? Leg-wrestle you? I am not a court jester, Helmeppo-san, and after a hard day's work such things lose their appeal. Not that you'd know that though."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" retorted Helmeppo. "And since when do you have to carry the burden of the entire navy on your shoulders? You're a Petty Officer not Fleet Admiral!"

"Try doing some work once in a while, you too might even get promoted!" spat Coby, now equally ignited.

"Don't you think I'm trying?" Helmeppo yelled then remembered that the walls were only so thick and wrestled down the tone. Waking up an entire building of habitual dawn risers in the middle of the night could only end in regimental bloodshed and in doing so, thanks to the set of sweaty socks incidents, he would be pushing his delicate luck quite swiftly over a high cliff.

"Coby that was low. Really, really low for you. What the hell has gotten into you? Are you really that stressed?"

"Yes I damn well am!" snapped Coby and clapped a hand to his mouth, surprised by the magnitude of his own voice. He turned away from Helmeppo and glared at his old bed instead, almost hard enough to burn a hole into it.

"You wouldn't understand," he muttered, "You're not the one who's going away."

Helmeppo's mouth gaped a bit and nearly dropped wide open like a goldfish. It was one of those dread sentences that renders all of the mind's trivial little voices completely and utterly silent.

"Say that again," he said after an awkward pause.

Coby refused to turn around but quietly said, "I'm going away. Away from the base. And I don't know how long for."

"Why?" said Helmeppo sharply, spitting the word out like a grape seed.

"It's an exercise. You know all the stuff that's been happening in Alabaster at the moment?" Coby wasn't the slightest bit surprised when Helmeppo replied in the negative. "Well, as you should know, the Navy overthrew the tyrannical Shichibukai Sir Crocodile who had been causing drought in the area, and averted a civil war. Vice Admiral Garp has some investigative work he wants to do out there and he thought it would be good experience for me if I went along with his crew. We'll return back here once we're through."

There was a brooding pause from Helmeppo. Coby wasn't sure what kind of response he expected to receive at the other side of it. Shock – definitely not. Marines could be shipped away to the other side of Grand Line without the slightest bit of notice or explanation; it was all in their contract (not that Helmeppo would have bothered to read his, of course). Questions – perhaps. But at least something with a higher level of interest than the one he got from Helmeppo:

"What "investigative work" does Garp want to do? Seek out a brand new supplier for his doughnut eating marathons? I don't know why you're so stressed about it if you're going to be coming back here."

The petulant voice. The cold stare of resentment. Coby had seen this Helmeppo before nearly two months ago, just before his promotion to Petty Officer and it frustrated him to realise that nothing had changed since. Why could he just not be happy for him? Was he really that jealous? Coby spun round and fixed his glare upon the Midshipman once more.

"Well thanks a lot, Helmeppo-san, thanks for the sympathy. I don't know why I even bothered coming here tonight…"

"There's the door then," said Helmeppo entirely without any trace of emotion, not even sarcasm. Coby emitted a growl of frustration, somewhere in pitch between a rodent and a small dog, and strode over to the door before firing his parting shot:

"You know Helmeppo, if this is your view of Regimental Responsibility then consider me out of the regiment."

Shortly afterwards Helmeppo crawled into bed and made a half-hearted attempt at sleep, though it was neither the argument nor the volume of uncharacteristic spite that had come from Coby that kept him awake. He hadn't even asked Coby how long he would be away for.

* * *

Author Note: How on earth did so much time pass without an update? Apologies to anyone who's actually been reading this. I'll do my best to get the next chapter written soon but unfortunately I can't promise anything... Reviews and constuctive criticism greatly appreciated. 


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